And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isa 2:2-5 | Douay-Rheims)
Isa 2:2-5 is a common “proof-text” used by Latter-day Saints as a direct prophecy of the Salt Lake Temple and the latter-day restoration. Notwithstanding, when read in context, Isaiah is not speaking of such, but instead, the restoration of the eschatological temple in Jerusalem. In my article The LDS Use of Isaiah 2:2-5, I argue that LDS instead should think of our use of this pericope as “likening the scriptures unto ourselves,” if you will, something we see in many New Testament applications of the Old (e.g., Matt 2:15 and its use of Hos 11:1).
As part of my current research into the origins, theology, and development of the papacy and papal infallibility, I read Dom Prosper Guéranger’s 1869 book, The Papal Monarchy, a critique of Gallicanism. Something interesting I found is that some Catholics have used the Isaiah 2 text using a similar interpretive manner, this time, applying it to the authority of the Roman Pontiff. As Guéranger wrote:
After Pope Alexander VII succeeded Innocent X, the Assembly of the Clergy in the year 1660 sent him a letter to assure him of its fidelity in following the teachings of the Chair of Saint Peter, and extolled in these magnificent terms the authority of the Roman Pontiff in deciding matters of faith:
In you, Holy Father, we recognize that Mountain of the Lord to which all nations stream [cf. Isaiah 2], that is to say, they are carried onward just as streams are guided along by the channels through which they flow; so we tend toward you, so we are drawn by the influence of our love and esteem for you; for this is particularly the lot of the Gallican Church, to manifest toward the Apostolic See the reverence which is its due. To you alone we look up, as to ‘a rich mountain, a fertile mountain’, and as we tend our flock, over which the Holy Spirit has placed us so as to rule the Church of God, we call to it: ‘Why do you seek other fertile mountains?’ [Cf. Psalm 67:16-17, Vulgate & Douay-Rheims.] Certainly, we know no other fertile mountains but the Apostolic Mountains, where celestial doctrine is provided like milk to infants, or else as solid food to those who are strong. We ourselves are pastured upon this Mountain; as Saint Augustine says to his people: ‘We feed you, and we are fed with you.’ And since the Lord teaches upon this Mountain, there, too, we have decided (according to the words of Tertullian) to put an end to inquiry, to establish our faith, and to cease further investigation.
We hope, therefore, that your authority will come to our aid against those who, even after a doctrine of the Faith has been defined, indulge in wanton curiosity, disregarding the maxim of Marcian, who says that anyone who has accepted the truth Faith and yet seeks something more, seeks falsehood. In you, as in the successor of Peter, the strength of us all was confirmed when, after consultation with us, the response came from the Apostolic See countering this ‘science’ (falsely so called) which had usurped the doctrine of Saint Augustine and which was being disseminated in his name. This case is now closed. If some new development again comes to light, it will require but a word from you to ward off such great imprudence, as Flavian wrote to Pope Leo about the Eutychian heresy. (Dom Prosper Guéranger, The Papal Monarchy [trans. Michael J. Miller; Fitzwilliam, N.H.: Loreto Publications, 2003], 24-25)
